A question on divorce and remarriage

Here's the question.....

Do you think John Piper is right about divorce on his paper:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resourcelibrary/articles/bydate/1986/1488/

Basically stating that divorce is absolutely impossible without death. And that remarriage causes adultery. It’s a very convincing piece actually.

* “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

* And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery."

In the last verse, if a person is already an adulteress then they would not become one just because of a divorce. They were one already.

In the end I kind of agree with this position because God makes things extremely simple and intuitive and humans cloud it up with selfish desires. If we are expected to die for our belief in Christ and we expect tribulations, then how is it we dish out divorce when abuse occurs? We never separate ourselves from the torment of this life in all other cases where our faith is tested yet divorce is the exception and I can’t help but believe that is cultural influence overriding scripture.

My response....

This has been a tough issue for me. I've had a few different couples ask me to marry them with divorce in their backgrounds.....and I had to make the difficult decision not to marry them. I encouraged them to either reconcile with their former spouse or to remain single. We can do some serious gymnastics to get around this pretty clear teaching from Christ. As hard as it may be, I don't want to be a gymnast. :)

When Christ says "what God has joined together, let no man separate" I think it means that the union of man/woman is to be permanent unto death......period. If He joins us together....who are we to say it's not working out? Who are we to say we've fallen out of love? The same God that cast the stars, scooped the oceans and piled up the mountains put me and Christi together, so the power and wisdom in that ordained union MUST be final and is not to be tampered with.

This begs the question, what about those who have already remarried after divorce.....are they damaged goods? I think not.....because we have a BIG redemptive God who forgives and renews....and I KNOW the previously divorced/now remarried can be used by God. I've seen it in our body regularly. Now, just because God can forgive, I don't think it wise to knowingly enter into the sin of remarriage after divorce. My deep trust is that His grace is sufficient for the divorcee to remain single in this short twinkle of life on earth.

Ben